1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an auxiliary equipment suitable for use in removing parts such as a cover guide, a cover feed turret and a rotating drive shaft for the cover feed turret, which have been installed on a can end double-seaming machine for seaming a can end on a can body, from the seaming machine or installing such parts on the double-seaming machine.
2) Description of the Related Art
In production lines for cans, sealed cans and the like, there has heretofore been well known, a double end seaming machine for seaming a can end on a can body, such as a machine having the structure illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 by way of example.
This double end seaming machine comprises, as principal components, a base 50 and a frame 52 installed and supported on the upper parts of a plurality of stanchions 51 provided upright on the base 50. As illustrated in FIG. 6, a plurality of lifters 53 are provided rotatably about a main shaft 54 on the base 50. In the frame 52, a seaming head 57 equipped with a seaming chuck 55 and a seaming roll 56 above the lifter 53 is provided rotatably about the main shaft 54.
Upon seaming a can end on a can body (not illustrated), the can body is supported on each lifter 53, and the can end placed on the can body is held by the seaming chuck 55, thereby holding the can body and the can end between the lifter 53 and the seaming chuck 55. In this state, the can end is double-seamed on the can body by action of the seaming roll 56 and the seaming chuck 55.
This double end seaming machine is also equipped with a can end feeder 58 for feeding a can end to a can body supported on the lifter 53.
This can end feeder 58 comprises, as principal components, a cover guide 60 in a form of a plate, which has been horizontally provided in a fixed manner by a plurality of bolts 59 on the lower surface of the frame 52 at a position lateral to the seaming head 57, a horizontal cover feed turret 61 attached rotatably to the frame at a position contiguous to the cover guide 60 on the lower side thereof, and a rotating drive shaft 62 extending from the interior of the base 50 to the center of the cover feed turret 61.
The cover feed turret 61 is concentrically rotatably fitted over the body of a bolt 63, whose tip port has been inserted from the lower side of the cover guide 60 through it and screwed into the lower surface of the frame 52, through a bearing 64 and is detachably supported by the head 63a of the bolt 63, whereby it is attached to the frame 52.
In the cover guide 60, as illustrated in FIG. 6, a guide groove 66 for guiding a can end fed one by one from a cover magazine 65, which has been fitted to the cover guide 60, on a can body supported on the lifter 53 is defined in the form of a semiarc from a position, at which the cover magazine 65 has been fitted, to a position right above the lifter 53 along the outer periphery of the cover feed turret 61. In the guide groove 66, a plurality of pushing parts 67 which have been fixed at regular intervals on the peripheral part of the cover feed turret 61 project inwardly.
A connecting member 69 in the form of a cylinder is concentrically integrally fitted on the upper end of the rotating drive shaft 62, said connecting member 69 being concentrically fixed to the lower surface of the cover feed turret 61 by a plurality of bolts 68 at a position surrounding the head 63a of the bolt 63. Therefore, the rotating drive shaft 62 rotates together with the cover feed turret 61.
The lower portion of the rotating drive shaft 62 extends through a cylindrical body 70 provided in a fixed manner on the base 50 and extends into the base 50, and is fitted in a cylindrical body 72, said rotating drive shaft 62 and cylindrical body 72 being rotatable integrally with each other through a key 71. The cylindrical body 72 is rotatably detachably supported by the inner wall of the base 50 through a bearing 73. On the lower end of the cylindrical body 72, a driven gear 74 fitted concentrically on the lower end of the rotating drive shaft 62 is fixed in position by bolts 76. The driven gear 74 is meshed with a drive gear 75 fitted integrally rotatably on the main shaft 54 within the base 50.
In such a can end feeder 58, when the main shaft 54 is rotated by a driving means not illustrated, the cover feed turret 61 is rotated through the drive gear 75, the driven gear 74, rotating drive shaft 62 and the connecting member 69.
At this time, the can end fed from the cover magazine 65 to the guide groove 66 of the cover guide 60 is pushed by the pushing part 67 of the cover feed turret 61 toward the can body on the lifter 53 within the guide groove 66, and placed on the can body.
In such a double end seaming machine on the other hand, when the type of can body and can end to be seamed, particularly, their diameter is changed, the seaming chuck 55, the seaming roll 56, the cover guide 60 and the cover feed turret 61 are all changed according to the diameter of the can body and can end.
In this case, the cover feed turret 61 by way of example is manually changed in a manner described below.
Namely, upon changing the cover feed turret 61, the bolts 68 are first of all removed by an operator to separate the connecting member 69 and the rotating drive shaft 62 from the cover feed turret 61. At this time, the rotating drive shaft 62 and the connecting member 69 come down to a position where the rotating drive shaft 62 comes into contact with the bottom of the base 50 as indicated by imaginary lines in FIG. 7
The head 63a of the bolt 63 is then turned to take the bolt 63 out of the frame 52, thereby removing the cover feed turret 61 from the frame 52. At this time, since the cover feed turret 61 is a heavy part, another operator must hold the cover feed turret 61 with his hands in advance before the bolt 63 is taken off.
When the cover feed turret 61 is installed on the frame 52, the above-described operation is conducted in reverse.
In such an operation method, however, when the cover feed turret 61 is removed from or installed on the frame 52, the bolt 63 must be taken off or put on in a state that the cover feed turret 61 has been held with hands by another operator because it is heavy. Therefore, a plurality of operators are required. There is also a disadvantage that the operation requires much time and labor.